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No. 6I7,296. Patonted Jan. 3. I899. J. E. MORTON. DEVICE FOR CLEANSING HATTERS' KETTLES.

(Application filed Dec. 28, 1897.; (No Model.)

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lNiriin JAMES E. MORTON, OF SOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO LUTHER M. IVRIGHT, OF SAME PLACE.

DEVICE FOR CLEANSING HATTERS KETTLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,296, dated January 3, 1899.

Application filed December 28, 1897. Serial No. 663,854. (No model.)

To to whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES E. MORTON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of South Norwalk, county of Fairfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Devices for Cleansing Hatters Kettles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in hat-sizing machines; and it consists in improvements in a device for removing the long hairs and particles of fur which collect in the water.

The drawings show my device in the form in which I now prefer to make it; but it will be understood that I do not confine my invention to the exact form shown, as various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

A hat-former or bat is during the fulling operation frequently dipped in hot water contained in a tank, which is commonly called the hatters kettle. During this dipping operation hairs or particles of fur become detached from the bat and remain suspended in the fluid. These hairs or particles of fur if not removed from the kettle attach themselves to the same or other bats subsequently dipped, after these bats have been to a greater or less extent filled, and form What have been termed dags in the bat, deteriorating the finish and appearance of the finished article. It has always, as far as I know, been the practice to purify the water in the kettle from time to time by removing these detached hairs and particles of fur. To accomplish this result, it has been the practice time out of mind to pass astrainer of some sort through the water repeatedly by hand. More recently the result has been attained by continuously pumping the water from the kettle and allowing it to return through a screen in which the fibers are caught. Such an apparatus is described in Letters Patent No. 527,187 granted to W. J. Wiley, October 9, 1894. I have discovered that the water within a hatters kettle is caused to constantly circulate therein with more or less uniformity, due to the application thereto of heat, externally or internally applied, to keep the water at the desired temperature, and that the fibers carried by the current will attach themselves to any suitable screen made stationary within the path of said current. In other words, I have discovered that all the labor which has been expended in hatters establishments in removing the fibers by hand has been Wasted and that the same and even a superior result will be obtained by allowing the strainer to remain stationary wholly or partially immersed in the water from which the fibers are to be removed, the essential requisite being that the screen shall be placed in the path of a current established by the application to the kettle of heat, whereby the water flows through the screen and the fibers to be removed are arrested by and may be removed with it. This is the gist of my invention.

The apparatus which I now prefer to em ploy in carrying the invention into effect, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, may be thus described.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a hatters kettle with the screen in place. Fig. 2 shows a top view of the'screen. Fig. 3 shows a side view of the screen. Fig. 4 shows an end view of the screen.

a is the kettle, made of wood in the usual form.

Z) is a steam-pipe leading downward and opening into a funnel-shaped piece 0, which has a series of holes cl in its sides. The steam issues from these holes and is condensed by the water and the heated water is caused to rise and a current is produced in the kettle in the direction shown by the arrows. The screen c is secured to a frame f, which has extended ends f, which are provided with notches g, which serve to support it on a clamp h.

i is a handle for taking the screen off to a clean it. t

7c is a collar secured to the steam-pipe b by a set-screw. The clamp his preferably loosely fitted over the steam-pipe and is supported by the collar 7c, so that it may swivel around into any desired position. The screen is in the path of the flowing water. I may also make the screen of any desired shape and support it from any portion of the kettle, and I do not confine my invention to any particular form of screen nor to any particular place in the kettle. V

I Will now point out in the claims the particular features of novelty that I claim as my invention, it being understood that the omission of an element from one of the claims is a notice to the trade that the said element is not essential to the combination of said claim.

I claim- 1. In a hatters kettle, the fluid contained therein combined with means for heating said fluid so arranged as to cause a substantially uniform circulation thereof, fibers contained in said fluid, the specific gravity of which fibers is such that they remain suspended in said fluid and are conveyed about the kettle by said current and a stationary screen located in the path of the current and fibers by which the latter are arrested and the former purified.

2. A cleansing device for a hatters kettle, consisting of a screen 6 the frame ff, having the notches g g, substantially as described.

3. A supporting device for a screen in a hatters kettle, the combination of the collar 70, the swivel-clamp h with the screen e supported on said clamp, for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two Witnesses, this 22d day of December, 1897.

JAMES E. MORTON.

Witnesses:

PAUL G. A. SoHULTZER, FRANK D. LAYTON. 

